1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card system in which a card with memory function capable of rewritably holding a plurality of services (applications), for example, an IC card is installed with a plurality of services (applications) for receiving the service, and a card information presentation apparatus, a card issuing apparatus, a card contents update apparatus, a card data update apparatus and a card information distribution system which constitute the card system.
2. Description of Related Art
Cards have heretofore been used in various applications, such as credit cards, bank""s cash cards, membership cards in which points are added depending on the amount of shopping.
These cards have a logo or name for specifying the service that can be received by using the card, printed on the card surface, and users can see the service contents of the card by looking the card.
With the conventional cards, data of, for example, account balance in the case of the bank""s cash card, and points in the case of the point card, is displayed or printed out by inserting the card into a balance display unit, or displayed in the shopping receipt.
In most of these conventional cards, a magnetic stripe is embedded, and in many cases, the ID number of the card or a personalized number is recorded in the magnetic stripe. However, the memory capacity of this magnetic stripe is small, and a large amount of data cannot be written therein.
On the other hand, cards with a considerably large memory function have appeared recently, such as IC cards embedded with an IC memory or the like therein, and the memory capacity is greatly increasing.
Under the above described situation, there is considered to utilize a card having a plurality of functions (a card capable of installing a plurality of functions is referred to as a xe2x80x9cmulti-application cardxe2x80x9d), by storing a plurality of applications, for example, an application for having a function of a bank""s cash card, an application for having a function of a shop""s point card, in one card with memory function (represented by an IC card herein).
When considering to build up a system utilizing such multi-application cards, it is desired to build up a system that can add, delete and update the application even after issuance of the card, since if such a multi-application card can be used only for the application written therein at the time of issuing the card, the usefulness thereof is largely spoiled. On the other hand, in utilizing this multi-application card, for example, it can be naturally used as a bank""s cash card at the bank""s ATM, but it is quite difficult for the ATM to accept roles corresponding to all the applications installable in this multi-application card. Therefore, it is quite difficult to handle various applications installable to the multi-application card by one terminal.
Considering building a system that uses the multi-application cards under such a supposed environment, a large problem is how to inform the user of the card contents accurately.
That is to say, in the case of the multi-application card, since the application in the card can be added, deleted or updated after issuance of the card, it is difficult to print beforehand, on the surface of the card, a display specifying the application installed therein. If users are forced to accurately remember or record which service (application) has been installed in the user""s card, the users are forced to bear excessive burdens, thereby easily causing an error or accident, and making the system inconvenient. Even in a case where a function as a bank""s cash card and a function as a shop""s point card are installed in a user""s card, it is difficult to cover all the services by one terminal. Therefore, if the user goes to the bank, the user can find the account balance by using the function of the card as the cash card, but cannot find the shop""s points. When the user wants to know the shop""s points, it is necessary to operate a terminal in that shop or a terminal controlled by the shop""s union. As described above, it is not convenient if the user can obtain the current data related to the card only in odd scraps.
In view of the above situation, it is an object of the present invention to provide a card system adopting multi-application cards and having a function of informing users of the information related to the card simply and accurately, and a card information presentation apparatus, a card issuing apparatus, a card contents update apparatus, a card data update apparatus and a card information distribution system which constitute such a card system.
In order to achieve the above object, the card system of the present invention comprises:
a card issuing system for writing at least card identification information for identifying cards, in a card with memory function capable of holding a plurality of applications rewritably;
a card contents update system for performing addition, deletion and update of an application in the card issued by the card issuing system;
a card data update system for updating the data of an application held in the card issued by the card issuing system;
a card information distribution system for receiving information corresponding to the card issued by the card issuing system, from the card issuing system, the card contents update system and the card data update system to control the received information, and transmitting the information corresponding to the card to a destination corresponding to the card; and
a card information presentation system for presenting the information transmitted from the card information distribution system.
Here, the above-described xe2x80x9cinformation corresponding to the cardxe2x80x9d may be the card information itself, or a name or a nickname of the card information (for example, an application), and need only be the information capable of identifying the card information. Also, the above xe2x80x9cinformation corresponding to the cardxe2x80x9d may be the information held in the card, however, it is not limited thereto, and may be the information held outside the card, for example, a host machine, corresponding to the card.
The card system of the present invention comprises the above-described structure, so that the card information distribution system controls the card information and transmits the information to the card information presentation system for presentation, and with this system, the card information can be simply seen without performing an operation including handling of the card, such as inserting the card to a terminal.
The card information presentation apparatus for achieving the above object comprises: an information receiving section for receiving information corresponding to a card, which is transmitted from a card information distribution system which receives the information corresponding to the card with memory function capable of rewritably holding a plurality of applications to control the received information and transmits the information corresponding to the card to a destination corresponding to the card; and an information presentation section for presenting information corresponding to the card, which is received by the information receiving section.
As this card information presentation apparatus, personal computers connected to the Internet and portable terminals such as mobile phones can be typically used.
The information presentation means in the card information presentation apparatus of the present invention may be one displaying the information on a display screen or one transmitting the information by voice.
In the card information presentation apparatus of the present invention, further comprising an information transmission requesting section for requesting the transmission of information corresponding to the card to the card information distribution system, the information receiving section may be a section for receiving the information transmitted from the card information distribution system, in response to the information transmission request from the information transmission requesting section, or may be a section for receiving the information transmitted in accordance with a transmission schedule registered in advance in the card information distribution system.
Moreover, a card issuing apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object comprises a card issuing section for writing at least card identification information for identifying cards, in a card with memory function capable of rewritably holding a plurality of applications, and an information transmission section for transmitting information corresponding to the card having card identification information written therein by the card issuing section toward a card information distribution system which receives the information corresponding to the card to control the received information and transmits the information corresponding to the card to a destination corresponding to the card.
As described above, by comprising the information transmission section that transmits the information corresponding to the card having the card identification information written therein by the card issuing section to the card information distribution system, it becomes possible to inform the user of the information corresponding to the card through the card information distribution system.
A card information update apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object comprises: a card contents update section for performing addition, deletion and update of an application, in a card with memory function capable of rewritably holding a plurality of applications, and having at least card identification information for identifying cards written therein; and an information transmission section for transmitting information representing the update contents of the application in the card updated by the card contents update section, toward the card information distribution system which receives the information corresponding to the card to control the received information and transmits the information corresponding to the card to a destination corresponding to the card.
As described above, by comprising the information transmission section that transmits the information for specifying the change contents to the card information distribution system, in the case where addition, deletion or update of the application in the card is performed by the card contents update section, it is possible to inform the user of the information representing the change contents of the application in the card performed by the card contents update apparatus, through the card information distribution system.
A card data update apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object comprises: a data update section for updating the data of an application held in a card with memory function capable of rewritably holding a plurality of applications; and an information transmission section for transmitting information representing the update contents of the application data held in the card updated by the data update section, toward the card information distribution system which receives the information corresponding to the card to control the received information and transmits the information corresponding to the card to a destination corresponding to the card.
This card data update apparatus typically corresponds to ATMs (Automatic Teller Machine) in banks, point recording apparatus arranged at the payment counter in shops, or the like.
According to this card data update apparatus, by comprising the information transmission section which transmits the information representing the update contents of the data updated by the data update section to the card information distribution system, the update contents of the data updated by this card data update apparatus can be provided to users through the card information distribution system.
Moreover, a card information distribution system of the present invention for achieving the above object comprises: an information control section for receiving the information corresponding to a card with memory function capable of rewritably holding a plurality of applications to control the received information; and an information transmission section for transmitting the information controlled in the information control section to a destination corresponding to the card.
By incorporating such a card information distribution system in the whole system which uses the multi-application card, even in the case where a plurality of applications are held in the card, the user can uniformly and easily receive the information related to the own card.
In the above-described card information distribution system of the present invention, the information control section comprises a plurality of dispersed parts, and the information transmission section may be one for receiving the information controlled by each part in the information control section via a communication line, and transmitting the information to a destination corresponding to the card.
Thus, the card information distribution system of the present invention need not be the one concentrated in one spot, and may be dispersed.
As described above, according to the present invention, card information can be obtained through a route separate from the card itself, and the whole contents of the application in the card can be obtained easily and uniformly.